Add extra time to services and appointments
Learn how to use extra time to extend services and appointments so your calendar reflects the full duration of each appointment.
In this article
How extra time works
Extra time ensures your calendar reflects everything your team needs to do before, during, or after an appointment. Extra time is set per service, and any appointment booked for that service will include it automatically.
You can choose from three types of extra time:
- Processing time: The client is still present, but the team member is free to take another appointment. This is ideal for treatments that need time to develop or set, such as hair colouring. On the calendar, processing time appears as a partially open slot, showing that the team member can be booked while the client waits.
- Blocked time: The client is not present, and the team member is unavailable for new bookings. This is commonly used for tasks like cleaning up after a service. Blocked time isn’t visible to clients, but your team will see it on the calendar and within the appointment.
- Extra servicing time: Both the client and the team member are occupied. Use this for any additional hands-on work, such as extended treatment steps, returning to the client after processing, or when a service simply requires more time.ual.
Add extra time to a service
- From the main menu on the left of your screen, go to Catalog.
- Select Service menu from the left menu panel.
- Click on a service from the service menu to update.
- In the Service view, click on the Add extra time button under Pricing and duration and choose to add either Processing, Blocked, or Extra servicing time.
- Next to the Extra time added, use the dropdown menu to set the Duration of the extra time.
- Click on the Save button in the top right to apply extra time to the service.
Once extra time is added to a service, it will automatically apply to all future appointments booked for that service.
When setting up extra time, the original service time will appear grayed out to help you place extra time before or after the service. You can add multiple types of extra time that can be reordered, edited or removed by clicking Actions (three dots).
Adding extra time to an appointment
- From the main menu on the left of your screen, go to Calendar.
- Click on an existing appointment to open the appointment view.
- Select a service from the right panel.
- Click on the Add extra time button and choose to add either Processing, Blocked, or Extra servicing time.
- Next to the Extra time added, use the dropdown menu to set the Duration of the extra time.
- Select the Apply button at the bottom to update the service.
- Click on the Save button at the bottom to update the appointment.
Once updated, any extra time added to the appointment will be included in the total appointment duration. The updated extra time added to the appointment will automatically appear in the client’s Fresha account for their appointment, excluding any extra blocked time added before or after the appointment.
Update extra time calendar display settings
If extra time is added to a service or an appointment, you can choose to visually highlight the different segments of extra time shown in an appointment slot in your calendar.
- From the main menu on the left of your screen, go to Settings.
- Select the Scheduling category to access your Time and calendar settings.
- Under Calendar settings, select the Edit button.
- In the Calendar settings view, tick the checkboxes to update how extra time is displayed on appointments in your calendar:
- Display processing time segments within the appointment slot: Extra processing time will be shown as a faded segment in the same color as the appointment slot.
- Highlight blocked time segments within the appointment slot: Extra blocked time will be shown as a gray segment within the appointment slot.
- Click on the Save button in the top right to update the extra time display settings.
Once the extra time display settings are enabled, any extra time added to appointments will be highlighted in the calendar according to its placement within the appointment.
If you choose not to highlight processing or blocked time in the calendar view, you can still view any extra time added to the appointment by opening the appointment and checking the duration details.
FAQs
- Extra servicing time appears in the same colour as the appointment slot.
- Processing time appears as a faded segment of that colour.
- Blocked time appears as a grey segment within the appointment.
The colours in your calendar reflect the extra-time types you’ve enabled in your Calendar settings:
Extra time can be added while scheduling a new appointment by editing the service duration in the right panel of the appointment view. Select the service, and click on the Add extra time button.
When a service add-on includes extra time, it extends the primary service duration rather than creating a separate extra-time block.